Molded plastic electrical junction boxes are well known in the electrical industry. These junction boxes house various electrical termination components such as switches and outlets and permit electrical wires to be connected to the components therein.
Applicable electrical standard groups require the electrical junction box to meet certain strength and fire resistant requirements. As a result of these requirements, junction boxes of this type may have to be formed having relatively thick walls. This, of course, increases the cost of the junction box due to increased materials and manufacturing costs.
These problems are especially prevalent when forming the junction box of a fire resistant compound. Attempts to reduce the wall thickness of junction boxes formed of such a fire rated compound results in the box being brittle and failing the requisite standards for strength. Moreover, it has been found that it is difficult to mold the entire box from these fire rated compounds as the material flow characteristics of the compound result in knit lines being formed on the side walls as the material flows from the back wall to adjacent side walls of the box. Thus, use of fire rated materials to form a molded junction box results in the need to form the box of increased thickness thereby increasing the cost of the box.